Wild Horses, Take Action

By Laura Leigh on July 18, 2017

EDIT: The House just approved an amendment to send tens of thousands of wild horses to slaughter. Senate action is expected on Thursday. PLEASE take the action at the bottom of this page.

In 2017 our wild horses, and the land they stand on, are facing an assault. That is not an exaggerated statement. It is a sad fact that politics rule the range, not the reality of the range.

Today is the final markup (edit) and approval vote in the House of the President’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2018, that begins in October. The budget proposes to reopen slaughter plants in the US by funding inspections of horse meat and to cut the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wild horse and burro budget by $10 million dollars, part of the “cost cuts” will include shipping tens of thousands of wild horses to a gruesome death at the slaughter plant. The Senate is expected to take final action on Thursday.

These two provisions sit in two different sections of Appropriations; funding horse meat inspections in the USDA portion of the bill and cutting BLM’s budget in the Interior Department section. This seems to not only have members of the public confused but the responses from Legislators to the public show either an intentional or outright confusion, responding only to the public on domestic slaughter plants (several of our readers have sent us response letters).

Those that are answering about the BLM cut and killing healthy wild horses are responding more to propaganda than to fact. This is due to both a massive campaign by slaughter proponents that are also those pushing for state control of federal land and, oddly, by a complicit BLM. (One example can be seen here: https://wildhorseeducation.org/2017/05/17/posttruth-a-few-wild-facts-you-should-know-in-these-dangerous-times-part-one/) The BLM Wild Horse and Burro program is beyond broken. It is buried in so many layers of ineptitude, apathetic managers, intimidation and corruption that a single article could not unwrap the twisted package.

This is not about wild horses causing destruction, or the wild horse program creating a huge expense to taxpayers. This vote is about selective and corrupt management of our wild horses, our public lands and our resources.

Here at Wild Horse Education (WHE) we have been on range doing our monitoring at a more rapid pace than normal trying to get up-to-date information out to Congress, other orgs and media outlets. We have also provided testimony to several including the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). We have active litigation that points a finger at corruption. After the hearing we will get into some depth with you on those activities.

Please continue to make your calls. Full House vote next and then on to the Senate. At this link you will find information to assist you: https://wildhorseeducation.org/2017/07/05/united-we-stand-take-action/

YOUR wild horses on YOUR public land need you.